Disclaimer: Not mine

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: Don't worry, I'll get her out of there. I just need to have some stuff happen to set up the rest of the story.

Juzblue: I know.

JDPhoenix: I know. Thanks. It'll get happier in a little bit.

DizneeDol: Thanks, here it is.

Jenny: Thanks. Yeah, I do like fate. It's fun. And don't worry, Arrow isn't going to get away with all of it. And I took out the really, really random stuff, so you won't be confused anymore.

Sandra: Of course. I don't know how much longer this will be.

Chapter 7

Defeated, the rangers slipped into the city. Andros ignored the other rangers completely. Once they'd returned to their home base, he demorphed, and slunk over to the bunk that was his. Throwing himself down onto it, he lay on his back staring at the bottom of the bunk above him until he couldn't stand the sight of it any longer. Then he covered his face with his hands, and continued lying there, finding it an enormous challenge not to break down into tears.

"You haven't moved in six hours," Calan said scathingly. "Are you even alive?"

Andros ignored the blue ranger, his temper beginning to flare. His nerves were already on edge from being in that building. Somewhere in there was Ashley, and he couldn't sense her. He couldn't feel her. There was nothing to tell him that she was even still alive, except for his heart, which wouldn't allow him to believe that she was dead.

"Why don't you get up?" Calan continued. "Move around. Act alive."

"Shut up," Andros growled finally. "Leave me alone."

"That's what I have been doing," Calan said. "But someone has to get through to you. Blaze can't, and Alana won't, so that leaves me."

"What are you talkingabout?" Andros demanded.

"I'm talking about how you act like you can't live without her," Calan snapped. "You made some stupid mistakes today, and you're going to get yourself killed, if not someone else."

"I can't live without her," Andros snapped, finding anger a welcome relief from overwhelming sadness.

"You could if you tried hard enough," Calan said.

"I don't want to try," Andros said.

"Then you might as well forget about her," Calan shouted. "Because you will never see her again if you don't."

"I will see Ashley again," Andros shouted back. "I don't care what I have to do."

"That's an improvement, I guess," Calan said skeptically. "But if by some miracle, you survive and save her, she won't be like you remember her."

His tone was slightly less contemptuous, and Andros sighed.

"I don't care," he said quietly. "I love her, and there is nothing that anyone could do to change that."

"Are you sure?" Calan challenged him.

"I'm positive," Andros said through gritted teeth. "I love Ashley. Arrow can't take that away from me."

"But he can take it away from her," Calan said. "She's locked up somewhere, terrified, hurting, wondering where you are and why you haven't saved her yet."

"I'm trying to save her!" Andros cried, finally sitting up, to glare at the blue ranger. "She knows that I wouldn't abandon her."

"Does she?" Calan questioned. "It's been two weeks. The closest you've come to rescuing her was one failed attempt to overthrow Arrow. Besides that, how does she know that you even still want her? How do you know that you still want her?"

"Because I love her," Andros said, his eyes darkening with anger. "And it's killing me that he has her because of me."

"No matter how strong your love is, Arrow will break it," Calan said, almost cheerfully. "You'd be a complete idiot to doubt that."

"I don't care what you think," Andros said, fighting hard to keep his temper under control. "I'll always love her."

"Until you meet someone else who'll sleep with you," Calan said jeeringly. "Come on, we both know that there's no reason why you'd want Ashley, now that Arrow has, how shall I put it? Now that's Arrow's enjoyed her, why should she be worth anything to you?"

The last statement was an obvious effort to infuriate him, and Andros knew it, but it didn't stop him from lashing out at the blue ranger with his fists. Calan's pleased expression only made him angrier, and if Alana hadn't entered the room at that moment, Andros doubted that he would have let Calan go without doing him some serious injury.

"What did you do now?" she groaned, yanking them apart, shoving Calan back into his seat, and Andros back down onto his bunk. "Can't you two even be in the same room without acting like children?"

"That depends," Calan said, his careless tone back again, "on if he's going to try and fight every time I say something he disagrees with."

"What did you say this time?" Alana demanded.

"He said I shouldn't want Ashley anymore because Arrow's raping her," Andros said, rage smoldering in his eyes.

"You actually said that?" Alana stared at Calan with a truly unreadable expression.

"I meant it as a legitimate question," he said, not bothering to sound remorseful, or to keep his eyes from laughing. "I truly want to know why he would still love her."

"Then you deserve an answer," Alana said calmly, and snapped, "because he's not you."

With that, she stormed off again, bitter hatred burning in her eyes, and Andros stared at Calan, whose sneer had finally been replaced by a shaken expression. Andros narrowed his eyes at Calan as Alana stalked off. The blue ranger met his eyes with a contemptuous glare, and they stared at each other for several minutes, each determined not to be the one to break the silence.

"You and Alana?" Andros asked finally.

"No," Calan said harshly. "If they're lucky enough to survive him, he changes them too much. They can't live. They can't love."

"Not Ashley," Andros said, willing himself to believe it. "She's too strong. He can't do that to her."

"It's surprisingly easy to break down a person's will," Calan said calmly. "I've seen it done. I've done it. Arrow did it to you."

Andros stared at him, speechless, and Calan smiled bitterly. "Everyone here knows about your previous battles with Arrow. You were such a stupid child, really believing that he'd tell you where your baby sister was if you set him free. I imagine the guilt must have caught up with you again. Wasn't it the yellow ranger who convinced you that it wasn't your fault? She's probably changed her mind about that now..."

Andros felt as though someone had hit him hard in the gut with something extremely heavy. He'd been avoiding it, but Calan was right. If he hadn't been so gullible, Arrow would have been dead years ago. He wouldn't have been able to capture them, and Ashley would be safe. It was his fault; there was no way around it, no matter how hard he tried to find one. Ashley was probably hating him for it now.

No... Ashley loved him. Andros hated himself, but Ashley loved him. Or did she? Everyone had a breaking point. There was only so much Ashley could take before she too would turn against him.

"I have to save her," Andros said aloud. "I have to."